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Twenty nine hikers signed in Saturday morning at the meeting place 11 mi east of the junction of Hwys 62 and 177. From there we went south on a good dirt road (on AAA map) for 2 mi after which it became sandier and in a 1/2 mi went into a wash where most of the 2-wheelers promptly got stuck. Fortunately we had enough person-power to physically lift the cars out, so we were not too concerned. After several futile attempts to find a passage, we left the cars where they were and were on our way for Granite #2 at 9:30. It took us about 2.5 hrs to walk to the base of the mountain, so we estimated that it was 5 mi from the cars. We climbed up the ridge of peak 2711 directly to the summit without any problem. (It is the ridge just left of the major canyon). Last person the top at 2:30. Two people stayed at the cars from the beginning, two elected to go back after reaching the base of the mountain. Everyone else got the peak. Ron Jones spotted a bighorn ram with the horns going one full turn. Owen Malloy also saw one on our way back. On the way down one person developed leg cramps. Since it was close to sunset, we decided to split the group with Sherry Harsh and Henry Heusingveld leading the majority back. Ron Jones and I stayed with the other group. The 2.5 hour walk was quite pleasant. The stars were very bright and the new moon was pretty. We did not have any problem in finding the cars with our flashlights. The leader had taken an accurate bearing and we homed right in. Ron Young, Susan Carter and the Keatings had a red highway flare going in case we wanted to use it as a guide, but we did not need it. We were at the cars by 7:30. After getting the cars back to solid ground, happy hour commenced. Besides the usual goodies that were contributed, Adrienne Knute brought some home marinated vegetables that were out of this world. Susan Carter treated us with home made chocolate chip cookies. In the meantime Ron Jones had the fire going, and lot of happiness was being spread around in green containers. After dinner most of us sat by the campfire and listened to several poem recitals and solos of Pomona College songs (Is Pomona next to Podunk?) being belted out by Bob Michael. Thanks to Claire Beckman, who provided us with song sheets, we did not have to listen to any more solos, but we were able harmonize beautifully late into the night. Sunday morning we got up by 7:00. After Sherry Harsh had her usual breakfast of damp potato chips we were on our way to Spectre roadhead. Four people already had the peak, so they went home. The roadhead north of the peak was easy to find. You travel west on Hwy 62 for about 10 mi from the junction of 177. Then approximately .2 mi past |
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